Yankton County sees a surge in COVID-19 cases
YANKTON, S.D. (KELO) – As of Tuesday morning, the state health department confirmed 83 new COVID-19 cases in South Dakota. One area that is seeing a surge of new cases is Yankton County.
Erica Eickhoff owns Styles by Erica in downtown Yankton. As a business owner during a pandemic, she is doing her best to stay optimistic.
“I know that things change daily and one day it could be this way and the next 100% different so it is hard to plan, it’s hard to know what to expect, it’s scary, purchasing a building and then it’s a rocky year so it’s scary for sure but we try to stay positive and keep going,” owner Styles by Erica, Erica Eickhoff said.
For the most part, Yankton County’s case count has been steady.
“Here in the last month, month and a half, two months, our numbers have been one, two, three, four if you will, kind of a steady numbering, and our recovery rates were kind of equaling out to be the same,” Yankton County Emergency manager director, Paul Scherschligt said.
Scherschligt says within the last week there have been 40 new positive COVID-19 cases in the county.
“Seen that we went up 40 in the last six days, so we had a meeting yesterday with our COVID task force to find out if we needed to start implementing more restrictions or what’s going on, is there anything we need to be concerned about,” Scherschligt said.
For now, he says they are reminding people about the importance of wearing face masks and social distancing.
“Friday we will have another meeting to discuss what, if anything, we need to do something or just continue the way we are doing and making sure the message is getting out,” Scherschligt said.
As for business owners like Eickhoff, she says she is taking it day by day.
“We are on Facebook and I do live sales and Instagram and I know that helps, it helped us in March when we were shut down so we will keep it going and try to be as positive as we can be,” Eickhoff said.
Scherschligt says they haven’t been able to link the surge to any business or event. He encourages people to call 211 for any questions about the pandemic.
